Come January, I celebrate my birthday. Another year in this journey (that can be puzzling, challenging, joyful, mysterious, but often incredible) called life.

When I was a child, I was quite uncomfortable with a January birthday, because it meant that I was one of the first in class to become older! But I soon came to make peace with it.

And there are quite a few January-born people among my relatives, and two of my good friends are January folks. From my observation, most January people are pretty straightforward people, not keen on wiles and backhanded antics.

Admirable famous people born in January include Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King Jr, Dolly Parton, Michelle Obama,the artist Cezanne, and the author Edgar Allan Poe, best known for his stories of macabre and mystery.

I believe Martin Luther King’s words of wisdom ring true for human interaction: that people “…will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Happy Birthday to all January people.

The birth month flower, or the flower that symbolizes the month of a person's birth, for January is the carnation. I was drawn to this lovely illustration on a seed packet.

The carnation is the birth month flower for January. A birth month flower, or also known as a birth flower, is a flower symbol for the month of someone’s birth.

The carnation is the kind of simple beauty that everybody loves. It can be relied on to fit almost any floral bouquet or decoration, and is easily found in both East and West.

I’ve taken the photo of my January teacup with a can of Carnation evaporated milk, a product which has continuously used this flower as its symbol since its early days. The milk has always been a favorite in our family, and personally I do maintain that it’s still the best type of milk to add to one’s tea.

The carnation is the national flower of Spain, and is the state flower of Ohio.